Most millennial educators are jonesing for an advisor to pair with their digital financial planning tools, according to a report by Security Benefit Retirement Institute, the research arm of Security Benefit. The study found that 48 percent of surveyed respondants said they use a financial mobile app and 74 percent are interested in using an app, yet 80 percent prefer advice with a human touch.
Security Benefit, a retirement savings service provider in Topeka, Kan., commissioned the report with market research company Greenwald and Associates to gauge how financial services professionals can engage and market to the 21-to-37-year-old cohort of millennials who teach grades K-12. The researchers collected data from focus groups in Washington, D.C., Miami, San Francisco and Dallas, and surveyed 1,000 millennials (including 500 educators) nationwide.
Only 17 percent of non-teachers in the survey consult a financial professional. The figure is higher for millennial educators at 41 percent; however, researchers found the number of millennial educators who want to tap into a financial professional for guidance on asset allocation and investment vehicles in the future at 73 percent. This highlights a gap in millennial educators who want to work with a financial advisor and those that are working with one.
Two-thirds of surveyed millennial educators have access to a pension plan, compared to 76 of all respondents who have access to a retirement savings plan. Eighty percent of all respondents who have access to such plans are contributing to them. The report also found that 33 percent of millennial educators believe they can fund their retirement with just a pension.
Security Benefit found retirement savings to be one of the top three goals for millennials in the survey. It was sandwiched between building up savings and paying off credit card debt. Some of the obstacles to those goals were high amounts of student loan and credit card debt, according to Security Benefit.
Fifty-six percent of millennial teachers have student loan debt and 39 percent of the non-educators in the survey have student loan debt. When it comes to credit card debt, 64 percent of non-educator millennials have credit card debt while 58 percent of millennial educators have it.
“Debt is a generational problem, and when compounded with today’s rising tuition, high cost of living and growing childcare expenses, millennials are in a tough spot,” said Al Dal Porto, vice president of product development at Security Benefit.
Security Benefit and its affiliates offer products and services to employers and individuals. The company manages $38 billion in assets, as of December 2017.